Mid-Qing Dynasty|The large incense burner resting on three caparisoned elephant heads with long curving trunks between pointed tusks and almond eyes, the rounded body of the censer superbly enamelled with lotus scrolls in red, yellow, white, blue and pink on a purple ground, all beneath a wide rim with smaller bands of lotus scrolls, supporting a balustrade with reticulated confronting chilong, all surmounted by a majestic stepped, domed cover filled with further lotus scrolls, the upper section pierced, crowned by a magnificent finial shaped as a Buddhist lion and ball, the head forming the top of the finial with a roaring mouth and bulging eyes, the large wood stand with silver-wire inlay. 88cm (34 5/8in) high x 84.5cm (33 1/4in) diam. (5).|清中葉 銅胎填琺瑯番蓮紋大蓋爐Provenance: an English private collection, according to the owners acquired prior to the early 1950s, and thence by descent來源： 英國私人收藏，據傳購藏於1950年代初或以前，並由後人保存迄今The present lot is exceptionally rare for its imposing size and grandeur. It mirrors Imperial architectural in its design by utilising a balustraded and reticulated fence encircling the four-tiered domed cover. Compare with a related champlevé enamel incense burner and cover, mid-Qing dynasty, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Enamels 3, Beijing, 2011, p.256, pl.220. Many of the champlevé enamel wares were produced in Guangzhou as Imperial tribute to the Qing Court. They are often characterised by their massive size and splendour and would have graced the Yuanming yuan amongst other palaces; see Tributes from Guangdong to the Qing Court, Hong Kong, 1987, p.54. Amongst the largest examples in champlevé enamel produced in the Guangdong workshops are the incense burner in the form of an elephant, now in the Jin'an Hall, and a large pagoda, illustrated in ibid., pp.32-33, figs.4-5.